Tackling Injury Reporting

He was an NFL player who dominated
offenses during his 20-year career.
Junior Seau died of a self-inflicted gunshot to his chest. One of his greatest moments was a 17-13 win
in the 1995 American Football Conference Championship game where he had 16
tackles…even though he suffered a pinched nerve in his neck from a tackle. He was only 43 when he died and was rumored
to be suffering from the effects of multiple concussions over his life in
organized football.

Imagine my concern when my 18-year old son told me last
summer that he was signing up for the football team in his final year in high
school. He had never played and,
frankly, I didn’t steer him in that direction because I have high school
buddies whose injuries impair them to this day.

In the initial parent meeting I was
pleased when the trainer got up and started talking about safety. She handed out a form that me and my son had
to sign that outlined their concussion policy.
It stated that we agreed to report any concussion that he may experience
immediately, taking himself out of a game if he had to. We also agreed to report any other teammate
that we thought may have sustained a concussion. The coach issued a strong statement in
support of this policy too.

I was impressed but then got to thinking, “This is a good
start, but what about on Friday night?”
I chatted with some of the experienced kids, those who played football
and were starters. They were
honest. They worried about having to
leave a game and told me stories about others who lost their starting position
because of concussions. They told me
that under no circumstance would they “rat on” another player if they got a
concussion for fear they would hurt the team’s chances and risk losing a
friend. Yes the trainer and coach’s
exortation was both honest and impressive, but the motivation on the field
still may have motivated players to hide their concussions.

Playing through injury is admired.
An invisible injury like concussions are even more likely to be swept
aside by a player seeking to stay in the game.
On ESPN.com, Seau’s ex-wife (who was with him during his NFL career) was
quoted as saying "Of course he had
(concussions). He always bounced back and kept on playing. "He's a
warrior. That didn't stop him. I don't know what football player hasn't. It's
not ballet. It's part of the game" (http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7882750/junior-seau-former-san-diego-charger-found-dead-cops-probe-suicide).

Staying in the game is
dangerous in the work setting. Employees
need to be coached about reporting injuries, their own and their peers’. The game’s rules need to be adapted to thank
those who report. Minor injury and near
miss reporting should be tracked, analyzed, and celebrated because they prevent future injuries.